Fire damages historic building

Monday

Nov 21, 2011 at 12:01 AMAug 15, 2012 at 1:31 PM

, Staff Report

A State Fire Marshall's Office investigator is looking into what caused a Sunday afternoon fire that damaged an outbuilding at a historic DeLeon Springs citrus packing house compound, a Volusia County spokesman said.

When fire crews arrived at the 90-year-old Bob White Packing House compound on Lake Winona Road about 12:43 p.m., smoke was seen coming from the 25-foot-by-40-foot outbuilding believed to have once been the plant's front office, Fire Services spokesman Howard Bailey said.

"Smoke was coming from the attic area," Bailey said.

The flames were quickly extinguished, he said.

The citrus packing plant, long closed and in disrepair, was named one of Florida's top 11 most endangered sites by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other fires have occurred at the compound in the past two years. In December 2010, a 40-foot-by-60-foot outbuilding on the property, which is owned by the Strawn family, was destroyed by fire.

"This is the third fire there in the past couple of years," Bailey said.